Publications by authors named "Xavier Romand"
Background/purpose: Combination therapy with methotrexate (MTX) has shown to improve biologic Disease Modifying Rheumatic Drugs (bDMARD) survival in rheumatoid arthritis, but interest in MTX combination therapy in Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA) remains controversial. We conducted a systematic literature review and meta-analysis to study whether a combination therapy bDMARD and MTX improves bDMARD drug survival in PsA.
Methods: We performed a systematic literature review to identify all pertinent articles studying ts/bDMARDs drugs survival [TNF inhibitors (TNFi), IL-17, IL-23, IL-12/23 and JAK inhibitors] and MTX in PsA up until December 2023.
Article Synopsis
- The study evaluates the cost-effectiveness of tofacitinib as a second-line treatment after methotrexate failure for rheumatoid arthritis in France using a Markov model with 10,000 simulated patients.
- Introducing tofacitinib demonstrates cost savings of €1,679 per patient and increases quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) by 0.29 compared to traditional biologic treatments.
- This research is the first of its kind in France and agrees with findings from other countries, though it acknowledges limitations related to clinical trial data and focuses only on severe adverse effects.
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to determine if serum calprotectin levels could predict declines in kidney function among patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) undergoing maintenance therapy.
- Serum calprotectin levels were measured at the start and after 6 months in patients in remission, and an increase was linked to a higher risk of significant renal function decline and relapse of the disease.
- The findings suggest that monitoring calprotectin levels could be important for identifying patients at risk of worsening kidney function in the following year.
Objective: To investigate whether bone marrow edema (BME) fulfilling the ASAS definition of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sacroiliitis is associated with non-inflammatory spine abnormalities in patients with definite mechanical chronic back pain (CBP).
Methods: Patients with definite mechanical CBP, according to the physician, started before the age of 45 and be lasting for more than 3months but less than 3years underwent a protocolized MRI and radiographs of sacroiliac joint (SIJ) and spine. BME and structural changes were scored, by three readers, for SIJ as well as non-inflammatory abnormalities for spine, including degenerative lesions and static disorders.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates left ventricular (LV) function and valvular heart disease (VHD) in patients with Axial Spondyloarthritis (ax-SpA) who don't have a history of cardiovascular disease (CVD).
- A literature review included 28 studies involving 1,471 ax-SpA patients and 1,115 controls, revealing slight alterations in LV ejection fraction and more frequent instances of LV diastolic dysfunction in ax-SpA patients.
- The findings suggest that, while ax-SpA patients show altered TTE parameters for diastolic dysfunction, their overall LV ejection fraction and prevalence of VHD are comparable to healthy individuals, and further research is needed to assess the clinical significance of these findings
Objective: ZAP-70 BALB/c (SKG) mice develop reactive arthritis (ReA) following infection with Chlamydia muridarum. Since intracellular pathogens enhance their replicative fitness in stressed host cells, we examined how myeloid cells infected with C muridarum drive arthritis.
Methods: SKG, Il17a-deficient SKG, and BALB/c female mice were infected with C muridarum or C muridarum luciferase in the genitals.
Objectives: Central neurological manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) like rheumatoid meningitis (RM) are rare, little known and have a high rate of morbi-mortality.
Methods: We described six cases of RM that were directly related to RA activity after exhaustive assessment.
Results: They were mainly women, aged of 50 to 69.
Objective: To propose a list of variables to be collected right after the diagnosis has been made and during the follow-up of patients with axial spondyloarthritis (ax-SpA) for an optimal management in daily practice.
Methods: The process comprised (1) the evaluation of the interest of 51 variables proposed for the assessment of ax-SpA by means of a systematic literature research; (2) a consensus process involving 78 hospital-based or office-based rheumatologists, considering the collection of each variable in a 4 grade scale from "not very useful/useless" to "mandatory"; (3) a consensus on the minimum interval of time for periodic assessment of the selected variables on a 5 grade scale from "at each visit" to "never to be re-collected".
Results: The systematic literature research retrieved a total of 14,133 abstracts, of which 213 were included in the final qualitative synthesis.
Calprotectin discriminates septic arthritis from pseudogout and rheumatoid arthritis.
Rheumatology (Oxford)
September 2019
Objective: We aimed to determine whether calprotectin and α-defensins could discriminate septic from other inflammatory arthritides.
Methods: Synovial fluids with a predominance of neutrophils from patients with septic arthritis, pseudogout and RA were prospectively collected. Neutrophil-related proteins calprotectin and human neutrophil α-defensins levels were assessed in synovial fluids.
Calprotectin is a calcium binding protein produced by neutrophils and monocytes locally at the site of inflammation in order to trigger the innate immunity receptors. This unique characteristic makes it a good proxy for evaluation of local inflammation in chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases. Complete data suggest, in inflammatory rheumatic diseases, a relevant role of calprotectin in the inflammatory process.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Adherence to treatment is a key issue in chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases (CIRDs).
Objective: To develop recommendations to facilitate in daily practice, the management of non-adherence to disease-modifying drugs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, spondyloarthritis, psoriatic arthritis, connective tissue diseases or other CIRDs.
Methods: The process comprised (a) systematic literature reviews of methods (including questionnaires) to measure non-adherence, risk factors for non-adherence and efficacy of targeted interventions; (b) development of recommendations through consensus of 104 rheumatologist and nurse experts; (c) assessment of agreement and ease of applicability (1-5 where 5 is highest) by the 104 experts.